Nova magazine, 1971

From our (rather intimidating) backlog we unearthed two copies of Nova magazine, both from 1971 (January and September). This was a new title to us – we had none on our shelves – and turned out to be quite a find.

Nova was a women’s magazine, a monthly. Very glossy, costing 4s (20p) it ran from 1965 to 1975, and we now know was highly influential in its time. For one thing, it set itself apart from most other women’s titles: this was for the thinking woman, the woman who knew her mind. No recipes or knitting, then. Instead, it covered subjects which at the time were outrageous: sexuality, race and gender. The covers were provocative – just look at ours – and inside there was striking photography and artwork, all in colour, and all on high-quality paper.

Of course, the novelty couldn’t last. For one thing, it seems more men than women, thinking or not, read it. Then, upstarts such as Cosmopolitan (1972) came along and, with ever-declining sales, Nova succumbed in 1975. Its influence remained though, as its edgy subject matter and startling artwork meant those that followed had to raise their game.

There are lots of full-colour, full-page ads. Advertisers clearly thought that the thinking woman did a lot of smoking and drinking. For example, there’s JPS, Silva-Thins and St Moritz menthol cigarettes, while with Rothman’s Hallmark (26p for 20) you had the bonus of twenty Green Shield stamps included. Alcohol included Findlater’s and Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherries, Médaillon cognac and Pimm’s (and for the abstemious, there was PLJ). Otherwise there were lots of make-up and perfume ads (Wella hairspray, Max Factor, Helena Rubenstein), underwear (Gossard, Silhouette), fashion in Terylene and wool, and quite a few tourist boards: Jersey, Poland, France, for example.

Did I mention backlog? Get in touch if you’d like to help us get to grips with it. We’ve no idea what we’ll find next.